A very rare lobster is set to go on
public display this week at the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor where
it will live among other odd-looking lobsters, mostly those with strange
coloring.

But this one will stand out for
something quite extraordinary: it has six claws.

Capt. Peter Brown and fisherman
Richard Figueiredo were lobster fishing aboard The Rachel Leah, one of the five
boats featured in “Lobster Wars” on Discovery Channel, when they caught the
four-pound, 10-year-old crustacean in one of their traps off Hyannis,
Massachusetts.

On the left side, they noticed five
Edward Scissorhands-like claws where only one claw should be. A normal claw was
on the other side.

Recognizing the lobster as something
special, Brown named the lobster Lola and donated it to the Maine State Aquarium.

“This claw deformity is a genetic
mutation,” aquarium manager Aimee Hayden-Roderiques told WMTW-TV in Maine.
“Sometimes they have this throughout their life, sometimes this happens during
a regeneration from a damaged or lost claw.”

The aquarium has two other lobsters
with similar deformities on display, but neither is like Lola.
Hayden-Roderiques said she has never seen one with six claws before.

It was also a first for David Libby,
a marine scientist for the Department of Marine Resources who works at the
aquarium and has 40 years of experience working with marine life.

“Sometimes the genes will just get a
little mixed and it will grow a funny claw,” he told the Bangor Daily News.
“But I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Lucky for Lola, the deformity saved
her life.

Link to full article from David Strege and
additional video footage below:

Matt's Rant: I decided that because GrindTV’s nature section has
provided some pretty fascinating filler for my blog, it only seems fair that I
provide a link to my side column. It looks like I will have to break all of
this blog-bling into two different columns at
some point.

Mutations like this are rare but always worth noting. If you see this type of thing in greater numbers it is a much more concerning matter. One five-fingered lobster is not as alarming as hundreds if not thousands of hermaphrodite smallmouth.

About Me

Hello, my name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic. Fishing is more than a recreational sport for me it is an obsession. On the water or at its edge my quest is for the ultimate in the quality fishing experience. Sometimes that means an isolated puddle of water with big fish or those glorious days when the fish seem to just jump in the boat. Maybe it is how the sunlight sparkles off the water and makes this crazy world all fall back into perspective. At least for the moment it does.
This journal will hopefully allow others to share in my fishing adventures, endless rants and shameless bragging. Thank you for stopping by.